Convertible
Glock

by Tony Boggus

photography by Tony Boggus

April 16th, 2007

I am a
revolver dude. I shot my first revolver, a Smith & Wesson
Chief's Special, when I was still wearing training pants. That
shaped my handgun preference way back then. I continue to shoot
revolvers today, some 35 or so year later. For concealed carry,
for hunting, and for IPSC matches I use revolvers.

That said, I have an open mind and picked up a
Glock
not long ago to use when I wanted to step out a little for
matches. I found a good deal on a used Glock 24, the long
barreled 40 S&W. Well, I started doing a little reading and
investigating and found a couple of places that made all sorts
of after market parts for Glocks.

One thing that interested me was after market
drop in barrels. It is no secret that Glocks have rifling that
doesnít work well with cast bullets. They are said to lead to
the point that chamber pressures rise and guns have been blown
up, within a very limited number of rounds. I shoot a lot of
cast bullets to keep cost down, reduce wear on the gun, and for
other reasons. So the drop in barrels with conventional cut
rifling was very interesting to me. Another plus of these
barrels is that they are made to fully support the chamber,
another well known idiosyncrasy of Glocks.

So I did a lot of reading and research and
decided to give Lone Wolf Distributors' barrels a go.
Their drop in replacement 40 S&W barrel is $99.95+ shipping,
which is pretty reasonable for a good barrel. So a phone call
was made and a CC number given, and within a few days I had my
new barrel. Installing it was as simple as field stripping the
gun, a little oil here and there and putting the gun back
together with the new barrel in it. It was, as advertised, truly
drop in.

It functioned by hand perfectly.

It was off to the range for the real test.
Glocks have a reputation of working no matter what, clean or
dirty and with all sorts of ammo. And with an autoloader if it
doesnít run it is a paperweight, so this is the main thing I
wanted to make sure of. I didnít want to have a gun that
jammed all the time. Well I am pleased to report that my gun
runs just as well with the Lone Wolf barrel as it did before
with the factory barrel with every type of ammo used. Then I
compared accuracy with this barrel to the factory barrel. The
accuracy was noticeably better with the Lone Wolf barrel and hit
to the same point of aim.

With the success of this barrel and a bit more
research I found Lone Wolf also made conversion barrels for
Glocks. For my Glock 24 they make barrels in 9mm and 357 Sig. I
thought a 9mm would be a fun conversion...IF it worked. I
fired off an email to Lone Wolf asking what was involved, and
what else would be needed. I was informed that that only thing
needed would be some 9mm mags. I was told I may have to drop
down to a 15# recoil spring if I was planning on shooting
subsonic ammo. Not a problem, as I had already installed a 15#
spring. So again a phone call was made and my 9mm barrel was
inbound.

My local dealer didnít have any 9mm mags so I
had to order some but I was not willing to wait. I was pleased
to find that 40S&W 10rnd mags would work with 9mm so it was
off to the range. Now, I was willing to allow it a few
feeding problems because I didnít have the proper mags. I just
wanted to see how it would shoot. And shoot it did, and even fed
just fine with the incorrect mags.

For a fair comparison I used Atlanta Arms and
Ammo ammunition for all tests. It is very popular with
Competition shooters locally and the ammo used by Team Glock and
the AMU (Army Marksmanship Unit).

I started with the factory Glock 40 S&W as a
starting point and comparison of POI (point of impact),
function, and accuracy.

It shot a bit low and left. In fairness my gun
was zeroed with the Lone Wolf 40S&W barrel, which I changed
to next, so that should explain the difference in POI. With that
combination I shot the best group. I allowed myself the flyer
from a cold clean barrel, the first shot dropped a little low.
Then again it could be my poor shooting. The same load was used
for the 40 barrel; Atlanta Arms and Ammo 180gr FMJ.

Then I switched to the Lone Wolf 9mm
barrel and subsonic 147gr JHP ammo. I again allowed myself the
first shot from the cold clean barrel that dropped low. I shot
the second best group. That group was just a bit high but very
close to center. The same sight adjustment would and does work
well. Switching to 115gr standard velocity load, the POI was
2Ē low at 15 yards and a little to the left. The size of the
group opened up a little but 4 of 5 shots were less than 2Ē.

My gun is set up with fixed night sights so I
made no attempt to adjust them for each ammo/barrel combination,
but with all four combinations the current POI is usable. This
is something I find interesting and handy.

I will admit to a couple of failures to eject
with the subsonic 9mm ammo. I think switching to a 13# recoil
spring would correct that problem. I had no feeding problems
with any of the other full power loadings.

I highly recommend these barrels. The
9mm-40S&W conversion makes for a nice option for cheap, low
recoil, practice.